Week 5: Prompt 1: Helen Makes Me Smile…

Prompt – Why is it important to develop your own voice when writing?

This week we are talking about honesty and openness when writing.  When I give this lecture, I like to have a student that I can talk about specifically.  Every year, I manage to have that one student.  This year, it is a student named Helen.  She is a good writer, and she has developed her voice.  It is a sweet, cute, funny voice that makes me smile every time I read her work.

This is amazing because when my students leave my class, I want them to have a voice, one that has grown over the time they have spent with me.  I enjoy hearing my students’ voice as I read their work. 

Developing one’s voice is important because writers have to be true to themselves, and learn how they write.  They need to know how they sound as they put words together to make sense.  They need to have the freedom to be creative in whatever manner that inspires them.  They need to be uninhibited as they share their hearts with the world (or their teacher).

Most students do not know how to do this because they are not really given the chance to use their voice when writing in high school.  In general, they have to write about what they are told, in a way that they are asked to write.  I think this hampers creativity, and limits their voice.

I enjoy this conversation…

A student asks… “What do we have to write about?”

I respond… “You can write about whatever you want.”

They respond… “Whatever we want?”

“Yes, whatever you want!”

Then there is a discussion about them being able to freely express their thoughts.  The students are always happy about this, but at the same time scared.  I gently reassure them that I want to hear what they have to say.

That’s why it is important to have your own voice… you have something to say, and I want to hear it, but I want to hear you… not someone else.

I look forward to reading students’ essays because, perhaps, like Helen, one of them will make me smile, make me think, make me cry, or challenge my thoughts on a subject, but they can’t do that if they have not developed their voice.

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Works Cited:

Russo, Nat.  "Honesty In Writing - A Writer's Journey." A Writer’s Journey, “Honesty & Openness in Writing,” PowerPoint, Freshmen Composition II: ENGL1302, (Professor Deartra D. Boone,) Richland College, Feb. 2017, PPT.